The scenery was rather lovely. The grass was an unbelievable shade of green, as if somebody just colored the grass with its brightest shade of green. The trees stood tall and mighty and the hills surrounded the area almost completely, as if it was protecting something.
The thing that stood out the most, perhaps, was an odd man, kneeling in front of a gravestone.
In scripted on the gravestone lay four words that still tugged the man's heart:
"Here Lies Bartz Klauser"
As much he tried, the man named Gilgamesh could not stop his tears. He had waited, had prepared, had dreamt of the battle with his proclaimed rival.
And yet, here lied his lifeless body.
"H-hey, Bartz. It's me….Gilgamesh. Remember?" Gilgamesh said softly.
"I….I didn't think that you would recognized me. I kept thinking that you forgot about me ever since that whole cycle thingy…" He took a deep breath before continuing.
"A-anyway, I just came here to say that….I…I miss you, Bartz. I mean, ever since I first met you, and you beat me in battle, I thought of you as my rival. And when Exdeath send me to the Rift…" He shook his head. "I guess I just devoted my life to trying to find you and have a fight with ya."
A sad smile came to his face. "Whenever I found ya, I would always be so…so dramatic about it. Taking about how so amazing I was at the time and the amount of training I did in the Rift. Geez. Kind of wish that I realize how dumb and overdramatic I was acting. Geez…"
He chuckled at himself. "I still remember how, after my stupid introductions, you would always beat my ass. No matter how hard I trained, you still managed to win."
Tears started to flow in his eyes. He didn't bother to wipe them away; instead letting them run across his cheeks and fall to the ground. It was getting hard for him to talk.
"I…..I always thought that just, someday, I might just be able to beat you." More tears.
"I…...I never realized that….I would never s-see you again, let alone fight ya."
He finally decided to wipes his tears away. He let out a low chuckle.
"Geez, look at me. A grown man and I'm crying. Heh. I bet that, if you were here, in spiritual form, you would probably tell me to man up."
He shook his head. "Nah. You're too nice for something like that."
He took in a deep breath and let it out. "Anyway, I came here for a special reason."
From behind him, he took out a scabbard and took out a sword from it. The sword's blade gleamed in the sunshine as Gilgamesh held it.
He smiled softly. "You remember this, right? This is Excalibur, one of the strongest swords in history. Not to mention, one of my favorites sword." He sighed.
"I always, and still do, search for the greatest and strongest sword. So far, the strongest one I have is Excalibur." He looked at the gravestone.
"….I'm giving it to you, Bartz." He stood up.
"You're probably calling me an idiot in Heaven, aren't ya?" He smiled. "Sure, I'm not really the smartest guy in the world. But, at the very least, I could give this to you, as a tribute or something."
He walked closer to the gravestone, raised Excalibur, and stabbed the ground with it. With the blade still underneath the ground, he started to back away from it.
"Don't worry," Gilgamesh said with a smile. "I placed a seal on it, so nobody will be able to take it away from ya."
He began to walk away from the gravestone and started to leave. He stopped for a moment and began to say, "You were the best rival I ever had, Bartz. I just hope that, when Death comes for me, you'll be there, in Heaven, to welcome me."
And with that, Gilgamesh began to leave this world and would soon re-enter the rift, leaving behind some words and a final tribute to his rival.
He would soon resume his search for the greatest sword in history; no longer to use the sword and try to beat Bartz with it, but now to just find it, in the memory and name of his rival.
-A/N: Oh Cosmos, that ending is rather corny :P But, in all seriousness, I do hope that you enjoy this story and thank you very much for reading this to the end~!